Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-08-23
THAMES MYSTERIES.
strange Features That Mark tho
History of the English water.

History of the English water.
from the London Exchanged
Although the dark arches leading
down to the riverside from the vari-
GUS small streets and courts abutting
on the southern side of the Strand
have long since passed away, and are
not even available for fictional pur-
poses such as the late Charles Dick
ems was wont to employ them for in
his stirring realistic works, old Father
Thames has still much to answer form
the way of unaccountable and mys-
terioas disappearances, and hardly a
week passes without one or more in
quests being held on the bodies OF per-
s ons found drowned; but, as the jury
phrase it in returning their verdict,
chow or when they came into the
water there is no evidence to deter
mine."
Nervous individuals of certain
type have morbid feeling ever be-
fore them that many murders are an
nually committed through the medium
of the river. and it is, to say the least
of it, worthy OF note that many OF the
reclaimed bodies bear in the shape OF
marks and bruises presumptive evil
dence to denote that there has been
foul play somewhere, although In
some cases it is rarely that the crime
(supposing that one has been COM
mitted) is ever satisfactorily brought
home to any one.
Again, instances are by no means
uncommon of man or woman beng
seen for the last time, by some friend
or acquaintance, at almost any hour
of the day or night, apparently in the
best of health and spirits. to be no
more seen or heard of until some time
afterwards, when the fact of a body
having been found in the Thames,
and lying for recognition in this or
that mortuary, induces some friend
or relative of the missing person to go
and see if by any chance the body is
that of the missing individual.
Should this turn out to be the case
and such circumstance came under
our immediate cognizance not very
long ago-a coroner's inquest is forth
with held, at which the evidence
oftthe last person who saw the de-
ceased person alive and that of the fin
der of the body do little or nothing to
clear up what has to be added to the
already lengthy list of Thames mys-
teries. In the case to which we refer
there was not the slightest mark of
violence, money and valuables were
intact, and the idea of suicide was
secuted by those best qualified to form
an opinion as too utterly preposterous
to be entertained even for Il single
moment.
Turning from the somber side of the
subject, what vast field for specu-
lation is opened up by considering the
enormous amount of valuable prop
erty, watches, rings, coins and a
thousand and one other unconsidered
trifes that must be imbedded deep
down in the mud of the upper reaches
of the river! Just below the landing
stage of above the bridge at Eton,
it is computed that there must at one
time or another have been lost be-
yond recovery (for althoughit is OF no
very great depth there, the strong
undercurrent renders diving operations
out of the question: sufficient jewelry
to set up moderately sized jewelers.
shop! And it is probable that at other
equally frequented stages the loss
must have been quite as great, if not
greater. We ourselves have known a
valuable watch lost in this way, and
the owner being anxious to recover
his property, had special diver down
from London to attempt its recovery,
and in the end his fees (although sad
to relate his best efforts We're un-
avaiiing) amounted to more than the
value OF the watch itself.
Although dredging operations are
continually being carried on in vari
Gus parts OF the river, it is rarely or
never that anything OF value Is
brought to light, and so the only
natural supposition is that most OF the
things must get swept seaward when
the heavy winter floods and subse-
quent spring tides reign supreme.
Apropos of these. mention must not
be omitted of the unaccountable phe-
nomenon which has now three times
occurred, in 1868, 1852 and 1777-|
namely, the tidal part OF the river
ebbing and flowing twice an three
times, in the two former years, within
the space of three and four hours,
and on the last occasion twice in three
hours again.
The recurrence from time to time of
devastating floods caused by. extra
high tides, can hardly be called mys-
terious, seeing that they can be salts
factorily accounted for by scientific
reasoning; but the composition OF the
bed of the river in its various parts
has at times given rise to no small
amount of discussion, and to a certain
extent still remains one of the princi-
nal mysteries.